Single cells can display remarkably sophisticated, seemingly animal-like behaviors, managing the flow of information and orchestrating intricate processes far from thermodynamic equilibrium in order to carry out proper biological functions. Indeed, cells can make decisions by sensing and responding to diverse cues and signals, execute coordinated movements and directed motility, and even solve mazes and learn. These sorts of complex cellular behaviors are important for the survival of unicellular organisms in the diverse environments they inhabit as well as for the proper development and function of multicellular organisms such as animals. As we are gaining increasingly sophisticated knowledge of cellular components, it remains stubbornly challenging to understand how cells accomplish such feats.

The Larson lab takes an interdisciplinary approach, applying tools and concepts from physics, cell biology, and evolution, grounded in microscopy and computation to understand how cells control complex behaviors. We are investigating the sensorimotor and algorithmic behavior of cells, primarily Euplotes, a unicellular organism that can walk across surfaces using leg-like appendages. How can a cell, lacking any sort of nervous system, coordinate these apparently sophisticated patterns of movements? Our work is developing new tools, systems, and approaches for getting at mechanistic and evolutionary principles of cellular behavior. By clarifying these general principles, we aim to enhance our ability to understand, predict, and control cellular behaviors.